Accra: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) support to indigenous innovators and entrepreneurs is driving sustainable community development in health, education, and reducing unemployment in Ghana. The initiative has doubled its target of reaching 6,000 young Ghanaians through enterprise development programmes to 12,000 in the last one-and-a-half years, with youth advancing technologies to assist persons with disabilities.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr. Niloy Banerjee, UNDP Ghana Resident Representative, stated that the entrepreneurship training reached young people predominantly from rural communities and non-elite backgrounds. "The results have surprised even those running the programmes. One graduate developed a motorised, computer-aided walking stick for the visually impaired. Another improvised a wearable nebuliser - a backpack-mounted breathing aid for people with respiratory conditions," he said.
Mr. Banerjee praised the young innovators, emphasizing that these solutions were invented largely from local materials and aimed at solving local problems. He explained that UNDP encouraged participants to solve local challenges using technology and digital tools, with support from the organisation. The approach targeted disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, with participants undergoing boot camps to refine ideas, test concepts, and connect with specialists, ending with investment relationships.
He highlighted the need for government, financial institutions, private sector, and development partners to provide patient capital, technical assistance, and infrastructure to ensure scalability. Mr. Banerjee explained that the model faces challenges when enterprises reach a certain turnover, as the traditional banking system in Ghana is not designed to provide the necessary credit for scaling.
Mr. Banerjee said the absence of patient capital hindered the growth of enterprises into job-creating businesses, making the credit gap one of UNDP's chief campaign priorities in Ghana. He called for a financial ecosystem that supports grassroots innovators to grow into engines of national development and urged a shift in mindset towards supporting enterprises to meet Ghana's industrialisation demands.
The UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty while protecting the planet, including all 16 regions of Ghana, where its interventions focus on environment and climate change, inclusive development, and governance and peace-building.